Broken clock
by Nate-Mihael
Summary: "My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I like… my family and… justice. I hate" his eyes whirled. "prejudice and discrimination by old fools. I don't have a dream, but I do have an ambition: to do my family justice and… to redeem a certain someone, and bring him home." Sasuke doesn't know why or how he came to be back here, but he does know that this time, things will be different.
1. Chapter 1

**If there are any readers here that are reading 'Blaze' and having a 'WTF?' moment, I needed to get this bunny out of my systeem. Blaze'll be up in a week.**

**A Sasuke time-travel fic that I hope will not be as typical as most. Any feedback, ideas and/or advice in general is welcome.**

**((***))**

"Begin!" The silver haired man exclaimed, and the genins dispersed… or so he had expected.

The blonde kid, the nine-tails container, Uzumaki Naruto, was grinning at him, striking a heroic pose with his hands on his hips. "Okay, let's get this on!" Kakashi stared at the kid, mentally disrupting his chakras to break an illusion. Nope. Still there.

"… you're a bit _different_, aren't you?" As he said this his lone eye drifted off a bit, only to find that the Uchiha was present as well. Strange, he'd seen the brat leap toward the trees and then he'd stopped paying attention to the prodigy in favor of the more obnoxious 'threat' in front of him… but judging by the seated position the raven had assumed, the dirt on his white pants and the light scrape on his left knee, the boy had _not_ managed the leap for the trees and fallen to the ground.

The Uzumaki kid, following his gaze, jolted at seeing Sasuke. "Oi, bastard, you gonna try and steal my bell when I get it? The hell you are!" The blonde growled menacingly, but he might as well have remarked on the green color of the leaves for all the impression it left on Sasuke. The boy raised his hands in front of his eyes and stared at them, dazed, whispering to himself.

His lips read something along the lines of 'the fuck is this?' Kakashi noted. Seeming to get a bit of a grip, Sasuke glanced up and his eyes quickly landed on him and Naruto. Kakashi gave him his best unimpressed look. "Done with the, what do you kids call it, 'emo-phase'?" He asked, pulling out his make-out paradise novel, feigning disinterest.

Sasuke's expression became collected and he rose, not bothering to dust of his pants, and removed his arm warmers (which Kakashi thought sensible as the wide pieces of cloth were not exactly aerodynamic, and fast arm movement was essential for shinobi) and tossed them on the ground. But his attention shifted to back to Naruto as the boy (and two shadow clones, impressive) charged at him. Kakashi sniffed the air discreetly and decided that the one on the right smelled like the real one. The smell of ramen was so thick to his sensitive nose, he felt like he'd been at a ramen stand for half a day.

Kakashi evaded to the right, putting both clones between him and the real one, and smacked the one closest on the head, making it disappear. The explosive tags that were now stuck to his arms surprised him, but seeing the were tags designed to burn, rather than explode, he body-flickered to the body of water nearby and stuck his arm in.

Pulling it out, he stood by the edge of the pool and faced the remaining clones, and Sasuke, who wasn't even watching but poking at his arm with a needle.

'_Yeah, that one cracked a hell of a lot sooner than I expected.'_ Kakashi thought wryly. He had to wonder what he was going to tell Itachi if they ever met again. _"Yeah, he leaped for a tree, fell, and hit his head __**really**__ hard. Who'd have thought?"_ He turned his attention back to the orange clad disasters-waiting-to-happen. "Cute, I'll give you that, but not exactly successful, was it?" The smirk on the orange clad brat almost made nervous. Almost.

Instead, it made him more attentive, more supsicious, so when three clones popped up from under the water behind to leap at him, he was not caught off guard and quickly disposed of them with a few well-placed kicks. Quickly whirling around he hit the clone approaching with the original on the head with his book (such a waste) and quickly flickered behind the original. _'Now, for some comic relief'_ "1000 years of death!" And accordingly shot the squealing blonde into the air, expecting him to drop into the water when suddenly a snake shot out of nowhere, wrapped around the blonde boy and dragged him from his trajectory, landing beside Sasuke, who had the snake's tail wrapped around his wrist.

((*))

Naruto gasped when he hit the ground instead of the water as he had kind of expected. When he saw the snake wrapped around him, he freaked out. "Agh! Get it off, get it off!" When it disappeared in a puff of smoke a second later, he leaped to his feet and pointed an accusing finger at Sasuke. "Don't EVER do that again or I'll kick your ass, bastard!" He yelled at Sasuke. How dare he launch a snake at him… how had he even gotten that snake there in the first place?

Sasuke ignored him and walked up to Kakashi. "The point of this test is to make us set aside our differences in favor of the common good, getting the bells. Passing is not about whether or not you get the bells, but about _the way you attempt to get them._" Naruto's eyes widenend at the revelation. They'd been divided in teams… of course this was about teamwork! It was so obvious it was baffling! He heard rustling to his side and saw Sakura appear, pulling a twig from her pretty hair and looking as bewildered as he probably did.

Kakashi, however, narrowed his eye at the raven. Naruto shivered at the look and nearly jumped out of his skin when the man spoke up. "Naruto, Sakura, you are dismissed. There's no need to continue this when you get the point. You pass, be here at dawn tommorrow." His eye smiled at them and he gave them a thumbs up. Then his eye turned bored again."Sasuke, I think we need to have a talk." And then he started to walk off.

Sasuke glanced at them briefly with an unreadable expression and then trod after their sensei.

Naruto turned to Sakura for help, but found her staring worriedly at Sasuke's retreating form. Naruto decided that he, for a change, was going to have to be the obedient one. "C'mon Sakura." He said, tugging her arm and gently dragging her away.

She didn't resist, and he was thankful for that, but it did not put him at ease, if anything it made him more unsettled. What was going on?

((*))

After his teammates had left, Sasuke tried his best not to bolt as well. The snake had been an instinctive move, he had after all pinned the beginnings of a summoning seal on his arm with a needle and some chakra molding, why not use it? The seal may have drained a lot of chakra as it was incomplete, but still. In hindsight, it was daft. Using the great snake's signature jutsu in front of an experienced and sharp jonin? Good going.

But instead of running or fighting (which would be a losing battle for Sasuke), he and Kakashi stared at each other for a minute… and then he felt the familiar tingle of genjutsu wash over him. He couldn't tear his gaze away, so when Kakashi raised his headband and revealed his Sharingan, he could only stare as the previous genjutsu forced him to, and let the eye to its horrible work.

Or so Kakashi would assume, had Sasuke's own Sharingan not flared to life and broken both illusions at once, booting the copy-nin out of his head with a mental 'piss off'. The sudden strain on his chakras send him to his knees, however. Outwardly, the silver haired man was unfazed, but Sasuke knew he was puzzled... and probably had a headache building from the snapback. Served the man right for attempting to poke around in his head.

"…you are Sasuke Uchiha, all my senses, my Sharingan and _your_ Sharingan confirm it, you aren't under any illusion, I would've seen it when I put one on you so…"

His eyes narrowed as he walked over and dragged the boy up by the collar of his shirt so they were face to face. "Explain to me how a boy, renowned for his anti-social behavior and a lone-wolf reputation suddenly did a _complete_ mental whiplash and not only used a forbidden jutsu, but used it to aid a teammate he considers a waste of space, understand the _very social workings _of this test _and_ is now staring at me with fully matured Sharingan." His tone was light, but Sasuke could hear the threat. _You have five seconds to persuade me before I drag you of to Anbu and have them use a sharper version of the 1000 years of death._

Sasuke licked his dry lips, working past the fear in the pit of his stomach, he answered. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I like… my family and… _justice_. I hate" his eyes whirled. "prejudice and discrimination by old fools. I don't have a dream, but I do have an ambition: to do my family justice and… to redeem a certain someone, and bring him home."

Kakashi held his gaze, before eye-smiling at him and putting him down. "Okay, I believe you. You pass as well, of course. I'll see you tomorrow at dawn."

"You mean noon." At Kakashi's quirked brow he smirked. "I'm not the only one with a reputation." And then his expression melded into guarded suspicion. "And that's it? That's all?"

Kakashi smiled at him again. "Yup."

Sasuke racked his brain, searching for the logic here, and found it in a story Kakashi had told him during their training period before the chunin exam, the story about Obito Uchiha, and how it changed all Kakashi was in the span of a day. At the time, he hadn't cared but now…

Sasuke felt pang of pain shoot from his eyes to the rest of his skull thinking of Obito Uchiha. There was something there, something important… but he couldn't access it. Had someone messed with his memories before they sent him back to this time? He could only recall bits and pieces, recalled a glowing yellow man (boy?) with two different Mangekyo Sharingan eyes morphing into some strange, ripple like pattern.

"Are you okay?" Kakashi's voice snapped him out of his racing thoughts, and he waved him off.

"Just tired. I'm gonna get something to eat." But first he'd walk around Konoha… it had been so long. Then he turned and left, knowing Kakashi could care less about politeness.

**((***))**

**You're confused? Duh, it's a mystery! :D****I honest to god don't know whether this bunny is worth continuing. Well, I guess you'll decide. Oh, while romance is not very important in this story, it is a part of human interaction and life and this story involves both. If you want to request pairings, go ahead, I'll work something out, provided you give me a logical reason to do so. I'm not doing a pairing for 'they look so cute' or 'she deserves it!' I need them to function. :p**

**Next chapter will probably contain some team seven madness. I'm thinking of something with chickens. **


	2. Chapter 2

Deleted my other stories. Personal reasons have made my life a lot more busy and a lot more complicated, and my other ongoing stories were to high maintenance to keep without having a serious pang of guilt every time I see how long it's been since I updated. Sorry if you liked it.

Anyhow, sorry for my use of yards and millimeters and stuff. Inches and feet just baffle me.

((***))

Sasuke stabilized himself in the shade of a small pottery shop, closing his eyes and waiting for the dizziness to pass. Trying to recall what had happened send his head reeling, and the severe drain on his chakras from the summoning stunt wasn't helping.

_Ok, so I somehow associate Itachi with good feelings, have a burning resentment for prejudice and discrimination, and am in equal measures intimidated and annoyed by Naruto._

_Joy. I'm bat shit crazy._

As if to solidify that notion in his mind, a very un-Uchiha like giggle escaped his lips. Him, liking Itachi in any fashion? The elder Uchiha had destroyed anything they ever had. And being afraid of Naruto? The dope didn't hold a candle to him.

Feeling confident that he could maintain his status quo for the rest of the day, without bursting into random fits of giggling, he opened his eyes and walked the streets, acutely aware of how strange it all felt to see things from this height again. It was late afternoon by now, and the evening rush was slowly coming on. In a few hours, the lanterns would illuminate the streets and the night would be celebrated by the masses of Konoha.

He inhaled deeply, the fresh, warm air filling his nostrils, but he tasted a hint of cold and wet from the north. It would rain later. He stopped walking, only noticing that it was Naruto's favorite ramen stand he had stopped at when he ordered something with chicken in it.

He waited quietly for his ramen, watching the light of the slowly descending sun play on the buildings, painting them in an ever more red hue. When his food came, he closed his eyes as he considered his situation.

He remembered team seven, the mission to Wave, the Chunin exam, Itachi, leaving Konoha, training with Orochimaru, slaying him, facing that blond guy with the weird hands… and fighting Itachi. _Killing_ Itachi.

He reeled at the thought. His heartbeat sped up and he quickly put his bowl down before he lost control of his muscles. He held his head in his hands, try to grasp the storm of memories that tried to assault him, memories that came from a time that battle fateful battle with Itachi, but he only saw images, snapshots.

A man with an orange mask, an elderly man with eyes in his arms, a boy with two mangekyou's morphing into a ripple pattern…

"Oi! What you doing here, bastard?!"

The response Naruto got was a clucking chicken in the face and a very angry Uchiha Sasuke looming over him.

Glancing between Sasuke and the chicken, he finally turned his head to face Sasuke square. "First snakes, now chickens, have you got a toad in there too?"

"I was _this_ close, Moron, _this close_!" Sasuke snapped and illustrated his point by holding his index finger and thumb mere millimeters apart.

"Close to _what_?! And where did this chicken come from?" Naruto asked, holding the shell-shocked chicken in his hands. Ayame stuck her head over the counter to answer their favorite customer.

"Our supplier send us a live chicken this week with the regular chicken supplies, but we didn't have the heart to turn it into food. We don't know what to do with it yet."

_Probably seated itself on the counter when it all hit the fan. _Sasuke mused, anger draining out of him.

"You here to eat, Dob- Naruto?" He asked, as politely as he could.

"Duh, what else would I do in a restaurant?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't even want to imagine what you might do…" Sasuke ignored his indignant 'hey!' and gestured to his bowl. "It's chicken. Hardly touched it; do your thing." With that he turned on his heel and left.

((*))

Naruto watched the other boy go, stunned. He hated to admit it, but Sasuke was almost… kind, right there. Of course, he had thrown a chicken in his face (which the prankster in Naruto acknowledged as a bad-ass move) but he'd also given him ramen, nice chicken ramen by the smell of it, and Naruto was tight on money…

Deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth Naruto sat down on one of the stools, putting the chicken, which was merrily clucking now, on the stool next to him and dug in.

Sasuke had been doing weird all day. First of all, he said more today than Naruto knew he had said in a week prior to that, and second, was actually being tolerable in his bastardness.

Naruto grinned to himself. Who cares? Sasuke was being less of an ass, and Naruto couldn't say he minded… but he was still an ass.

((*))

Kakashi was fashionably late for his meeting with the Hokage, both out of habit and to have some time to think. A lot had happened. Much of it was odd, but explainable. Perhaps Sasuke's sharingan had awakened early and he copied the jutsu from Anko after learning the seal from a library or something. Snake summoning was more about proper use of chakras than about the seals, or so Anko had told him when they'd been in their cups years ago. Sasuke's use of Jutsu, and even his major personality shift (even if he was still exactly the same type he was rumored to be: serious and cold) was easily explainable, if a bit odd.

One thing, was not so easily explainable: what Sasuke had said to him. '_I don't have a dream, but I do have an ambition: to do my family justice and… to redeem a certain someone, and bring him home.'_

Sasuke hated Itachi, and with good reason. The elder had killed their clan, after all. Sasuke would be crazy not to resent him for that. However, Sasuke could only be referring to Itachi with what he said, and it certainly wasn't what he had said yesterday on the very same matter.

Kakashi had always found Itachi's snap strange. Itachi had been a kind hearted boy, and strong of mind. Neither insanity nor personality could explain what Itachi did. Did Sasuke have the same sentiments?

Poofing into the Hokage's office with complete disregard for rules and the safety of the hokage (just to mess with the Anbu on duty; if he could get in so easily, so could an assassin), he greeted the old man.

"Yo. Your guards are lax." He commented. But when he felt a kunai near his throat and looked down at the Hokage, he knew that the old man had not lost his touch. "Mine is not." The elderly man answered.

Trotting back to his desk, the hokage asked "How did it go?"

"Nothing special; Naruto is quickly mastering the shadow clone jutsu and shows good insight when it comes to short term strategy. Sasuke saw through the test rather quickly and preformed an admirable summoning jutsu. His sharingan is also fully developed. I hardly tested the girl, but then, it was more about seeing whether or not the Uchiha was suited for your plans." Kakashi reported.

Hiruzen sat down behind his desk humming in thought. "I did not disclose my plans with you, Kakashi, how did you come to know of them?" Kakashi was almost insulted. Instead, he shrugged.

"Meh, connecting the dots isn't that hard at this point."

Hiruzen was silent for a moment before he nodded. "I sense you do not approve?"

Kakashi shook his head. "Not in so many words. I think you underestimate Naruto. He isn't much now, but I see his father in him. He has the same spark."

"You feel guilty for not helping him the boy. You want to make up for it by protecting him now?" Hiruzen answered his statement, making Kakashi flinch. _Right in the bulls-eye…_

"He's not a weapon-" The old man ran right over him.

"Kakashi, you were busy after the attack. The city was in ruins; it needed shinobi of your caliber to run many missions for years while the lower level shinobi worked to maintain order and restore the village. You have no reason to feel guilty for how the citizens have treated Naruto. The blame lied with me and only me." Hiruzen lit his pipe in the silence that followed.

"By the time you could be there for him, Kakashi it was too late." Hiruzen finished when his pipe was lit.

"I could have taken the boy in-"

"No, you couldn't have. The village needed you."

"But don't you see that someday the boy will not tolerate this sort of treatment anymore? Who's to stop him if he decides to release the beast out of sheer spite?" Kakashi asked, tired. They'd had this discussion before.

Hirzuen looked at him, eyes sad but harsh and Kakashi looked down at his feet, shame sweeping through him.

"He's Minato's boy, Kakashi. You know as well as I do that he is stronger than that, better than that. And as for taking care of him," Hirzuen stood up and walked over, placing a hand on the younger man's shoulder. "There is more than one reason you were selected for this team. The boy needs you _now_. They _both_ need you now."

Kakashi was silent, and the Hokage's eyes turned sad. "You didn't fail them, Kakashi, you never did."

Kakashi stepped back, out of the Hokage's grasp. "May I be excused, lord Hokage?" He saw the old man flinch at the formal address, but he got his permission and that was all he wanted. He was gone in a swirl of leaves.

((*))

Sasuke walked through the gates of the compound, letting his eyes roam. He had not seen his home in years. The clouds were getting darker overhead and he could feel the first droplets. He did not quicken his pace, however.

The sadness in this place was profound, and the hate that had usually kept him strong was now too weak to shield him from it. The empty buildings were a stark reminder of his solitude and not for the first time he longed for companionship. Moving away from the empty homes (tombs) and abandoned gardens (graveyards) he headed for the shrine, intent on lighting a candle (for whom he did not know), but what he saw stopped him. A figure stepped from the shadows near the entrance of the temple and Sasuke hissed, double checking himself for genjutsu (there was none) and drawing a kunai.

Orochimaru smirked at him, but his eyes were kinder than Sasuke remembered. In his hand was a Shinigami mask, which the great snake raised to cover his face. "Stay back." The snake ordered, before he placed the mask on his face and spread his arms wide. When his gut was ripped open, seemingly on its own accord, the sannin faded.

Sasuke didn't know what had happened, but he ran. He ran back into the residential part of the compound, rounding the corner only to find himself faced with Kabuto standing in the middle of the street. The boy had grown to be a demon in shape, horns protruding from his skull and scales covering his body. He just stood there, hands locked in a seal, staring vacantly at the ground a yard in front of him. Sasuke bolted the other way, panting loudly as numbness gave way to panic. What were these people doing here?!

He ran with his eyes closed straight ahead, hoping to avoid more phantoms, but they waited for him behind his eyelids. He saw Juugo crushed beneath the weight of the stones of a strange fortress, alive but weak… and utterly lost without him. He saw Kakashi's disappointed an broken eyes on him, as he declared that he now understood how the third felt. He saw Karin's gut pierced by a chidori spear that extended from his hand…

He reached the small lake where he had mastered the fireball technique. He fell to his knees at the end of the peer, clutching his chest and hyperventilating. The rain was falling heavily now.

He looked across the lake, breathing hard and fast. He saw a man, glowing gold. Spiked hair and a cloak met him, and two ripple patterned lavender eyes. "What" Sasuke panted, "what did you do to me?" He asked the figure, but its eyes were fixed about something behind Sasuke. Turning his head, a harder task than it should be, he was met with the same lavender eyes as the boy, glowing down at him. The figure loomed over him, a silhouette before the lightning bolts crashing behind it. Sasuke could make out a mane of dark hair and armor, before the creature hit him, sending him into darkness.

(((***)))

If you're confused, good. That's the point. XD Hope you liked it.


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